


The Sound of Silence

by orphan_account



Category: Divergent (Movies), Divergent Series - Veronica Roth
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-25
Updated: 2015-09-13
Packaged: 2018-04-17 05:57:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4655166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eric finished initiation ranked first at Dauntless, and became the youngest full-fledged leader that Dauntless ever had. During a Factionless riot that turned violent, Eric is injured severely, and suffers lasting consequences. Cordelia, A.K.A. Lia, is a transfer from Candor, and she finds herself attracted to the young leader, though, she's never gone for the silent type, before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this is going to be a rather different story. But bare with me; I promise it will be worth it. Also, there is no Tris, no war, and no Divergent "witch hunt". Enjoy the spoken dialogue on Eric's part, because after this chapter, he won't be speaking for quite a while. Although, he will have thoughts; this is going to be a third person POV, so any character's thoughts, will be in italic. Also, Eric and Four are 16 for the Prologue, but as of Chapter One, they will be 19, and I'll introduce a few 16-year-old OCs. I'm very excited about this story, and I've put a lot of thought into it. I greatly appreciate reviews:) Let me know what you think.

**_Two years and eleven months ago..._ **

Eric had changed drastically in the one month since he'd arrived at the Dauntless compound. The rigorous first stage of initiation being purely physical, he had lost any traces of previously left over baby fat, and had gained bulk in the form of muscle and brawn. He learned fairly quickly that he had a competitive streak to be rivaled. Eric now ranked in first, and this was the last day of stage one. 

Tobias had changed as well, physically, and psychologically. He had learned in his short time, that while he wasn't fond of striking the other initiates, he had an impressive level of pain tolerance, and was therefore able to tire out his opponents in the ring. 

"Ready to go down, Stiff?" Eric taunted the former Abnegation boy, as they circled each other in the ring, prowling like a lion after its prey. This was the fight that the other initiates had been waiting for; this would be a close call. 

Tobias remained silent, even with the relentless taunting and jeering from Eric, and the former Erudite's lackeys. He kept his arms up in guard, protecting his face, and ready to block when attacked. 

Eric lunged out at him, jabbing his right fist towards Tobias' throat, but the brown-haired boy quickly dodged the strike, ducking down, and sweeping his legs out in an attempt to knock the blonde down to the mat. Eric jumped over his legs, drawing his right arm up, and feigning an attack to Tobias' ribcage with a jab, before landing a harsh blow to the left side of the brown-haired boy's face with a cross offense. 

The former Abnegation boy stumbled back a bit, before taking his stance again. The two initiates danced around the ring for a moment, each sizing the other up in an attempt to make a knowledgeable attack. 

Eric lunged forward, right arm pulled out to the side to throw a hook to Tobias' stomach, but the former Abnegation quickly stepped back, as Eric's fist sliced through the air. Tobias countered with a spinning back fist, that landed heavily on Eric's chest, sending him to the ground on his back. 

Tobias took advantage of the opportunity to attempt to take the mount, but Eric took the guard, trapping the brown-haired boy with his legs wrapped around his waist, using the position on his back to his advantage. Eric managed to get a jab to Tobias throat, distracting the smaller boy, and momentarily stealing his breath. The former Erudite slid down Tobias body, gaining side control, as he locked his legs over Tobias' hips, and used his forearms to restrain his head, as he lay perpendiculary across his opponent.

"Aw, come on, Stiff, fight back!" Eric snarled, panting heavily, as Tobias desperately tried to free himself from the locked position. 

Eric used his left forearm to press into Tobias' throat, giving him free use of his right arm to pull himself up on top of the former Abnegation, to take the mount. Eric drove his hips forward to maintain the pressure, to prevent Tobias from using his legs to push off the mat, and used his feet to put in the hooks under the brown-haired boy's knees. 

"Damn, Stiff, you suck at this," Eric grins down at his opponent before smirking, wickedly, and unleashing a full out ground-and-pound, in a flurry of punches, and elbows. Tobias stills beneath him, and Eric waits for Amar to make the call, before ceasing the blows to the smaller boy. "He's out!" Eric had won his final fight, thus securing his first rank, for now. 

"Awe, poor Toby!" Eric jeered, as Tobias' consciousness slowly returned to him. "You gonna cry? Do you need a hug?" Eric and his friends laughed, as he continued to mock the brown-haired boy by holding his arms out. 

Tobias refused to let them see the effect that their words had on him, however, and fixed them with a blank stare, instead, blinking slowly. 

Eric laughed harder at the expression, and Tobias flinched at the cold sound. "Look, I knocked him stupid! He's fucking retarded!" 

Eric turned back to his friends, having had enough poking fun at the Stiff, for now. 

 

**_Two weeks later..._ **

Tobias awoke from the simulation, barely breaking a sweat. He had been practicing every spare moment he had, to overcome his four fears. Now he had done it, and he had done it in less than six minutes. He grinned as Eric entered the fear landscape room; Eric had nine fears. Tobias didn't think the prick could finish in less than 20 minutes. 

"Happy about something, Stiff?" Eric snarled, as he purposely slammed his shoulder into Tobias as he walked past him. 

The former Erudite boy braced himself as he faced his first fear; the needle that injected the serum into his skin. Eric wasn't afraid of needles, persay, but he carried a strong dislike of serums, and medicine, in general. 

His second fear, was the fear of failure.   
_"Three hours! Ha!" Eric bowed his head, ashamed that it had taken so long to complete his final test, as Amar laughed at him, along with the rest of the initiates.  
"Can't you do anything right?" Lauryn fixed her gaze with an incredulous expression, as she crossed her arms over her chest, and shook her head.   
"Yeah, _Eric _," Tobias jeered, from behind him. "Can't you do anything right?"  
'_Come on, Eric, breathe _,' the former Erudite, chanted, like a mantra, as his heart rate gradually slowed to a normal pace._

His third fear; spiders.   
_Eric held his breath, and stood very still, as the avacado-sized arachnids scittered over his feet. Some of the creepy insects began to crawl up the side of his pants, and Eric had a difficult time remaining still as the giant spiders crawled up his body, nearing his face. He closed his eyes, and counted to three, and the spiders were gone._

Eric's fourth and fifth fears were death, and the dark.   
_Cool metal pushed against his temple, briefly, before the trigger was pulled. The shot had ended his life, and plunged him into darkness.  
Eric could hear the whispers all around him, coming from every direction at once. He dropped to his knees, and attempted to crawl, searching for a way out through the pitch black, as he forced his breathing to even out._

Eric's sixth fear, was a fear of falling; not so very different from Tobias' fear of heights.  
 _The top-ranked initiate stood atop a tall building, one that towered, even past the cloud cover over the city. He slipped, and lost his footing, and fell backwards over the roof, the ground approaching at an alarming rate. "_ I won't die. If I just willingly let myself hit the ground, this will end _," Eric told himself, forcing his body to relax, and not tense up, as he crashed into the pavement below._

His seventh fear, was the fear of being bound.   
_"_ What the hell? _" Eric exclaimed, looking down at his tied wrists and ankles. He frantically began pulling against the bindings, but it only increased the tight hold of the cords. Eric immediately stopped his struggle, and closed his eyes._

A pack of large, vicious Boerboels tearing the flesh from his body, piece by piece, was his eighth fear.   
_"_ Ah, shit! _" Eric shouted, as he continued to sprint across the large, grassy field, the blood thirsty dogs gaining ground on him. "_ Fuck! _"  
One of the large beasts grabbed onto the back of his right ankle, shaking it's head viciously, causing Eric to fall, as the attacking dog ripped at his flesh. The other ferocious animals descended on him quickly, chomping onto his shoulder, neck, and arms.   
Eric continued to fight against the pack of wild animals, covering his head as best as he could, attempting to calm himself, while he bled out._

Being burried alive and suffocating, was his ninth, and final, fear.   
_The former Erudite opened his eyes to darkness, and the smell of earth. He blinked rapidly, willing the darkness to recede, but to no avail.  
"_Hello? _" he cried out, as he felt out his surroundings with his hands; a simple, pine box. "_ Somebody get me out of here! _" Eric began to kick against the box with both of his feet, eventually busting through the wood, only for large amounts of black dirt to rain down on top of him.  
He pushed through the surface, above ground at last. He pulled himself out of what was supposed to be his grave, and he sat gasping for air, on the ground._

He awoke from the simulation, trembling, sweat running down his neck, and he fought rigorously against the violent wave of nausea that threatened to cause him to lose his breakfast. 

It had taken him thirteen minutes to complete his simulation. 

Amar, his trainer, approached him to remove the electrode from his temple.   
"That's some pretty terrifying fears you've got there, Eric. Congratulations, you're officially a member of Dauntless."

 

**_Later that afternoon..._ **

"Initiates! Stand!"   
Eric hurried to comply, along with the rest of the initiates, as Max's loud voice boomed through the Pit. The dark-skinned man scanned the faces of each, and every, one of the pack. 

"You have all shown your might, and your courage, and we welcome you, to Dauntless!"

The Pit exploded into cheers, and roars of excitement, the Dauntless jostling the newest members, good-naturedly. Max raised his hand, signaling for quiet. 

"We believe that cowardice is to blame for the world's injustices. We believe that peace is hard-won, that sometimes it is necessary to fight for peace," Max pauses, as he makes eye contact with each of the new members, his gaze locking with Tobias' honey-brown orbs. 

"We believe that justice is more important than peace. We believe in freedom from fear, in denying fear the power to influence our decisions. We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another. We believe in acknowledging fear and the extent to which it rules us. We believe in facing that fear no matter what the cost to our comfort, our happiness, or even our sanity."

The dark-skinned leader shifts his gaze to the rest of the initiates, as a whole; the sincerity with which he believed in these words was evident in his baratone voice. 

"We believe in shouting for those who can only whisper, in defending those who cannot defend themselves. We believe, not just in bold words, but in bold deeds to match them. We believe that pain and death are better than cowardice and inaction, because we believe in action. We do not believe in living comfortable lives. We do not believe that silence is useful." 

The leader continues to raise his voice, as cheering and shouts of agreement begin to resound through the Pit at his words.

"We do not believe in good manners! We do not believe in empty heads, empty mouths, or empty hands! We do not believe that learning to master violence encourages unnecessary violence! We do not believe that we should be allowed to stand idly by! And we most certainly do not believe that any other virture is more important than bravery!" 

Max paused briefly, letting the excitement die down to a low rumble. 

"We expect you to be fearless; undaunted, and brave. Courageously resolute, especially in the face of danger or difficulty; not discouraged. New members of Dauntless... do us proud!" Max takes his exit, as the Pit erupts with cheering, and shouting, once more. 

Amar, the transfer instructor, and Ellie, the Dauntless-born instructor climb onto a table in the middle of the Pit. The light shining through the windows above, causing a shine to glint off of their hair, while at the same time, the protruding cement blocks cause shadows to fall over multiple areas of their bodies, giving them a dark, and menacing appearance. 

Eric shifts back and forth, uncomfortably, awaiting the final ranking. "Come on, come on, come on..." he urges, in anticipation. Tobias eyes him, with his arms folded, looking stoically calm. When the rankings are finally revealed, all that matters to Tobias is that he made it; he is Dauntless. 

Eric ranked first, and Tobias came in second; that's all that mattered to Eric. The former Erudite had earned quite a reputation of brutality, and perfection. He ranked first; that was all that mattered. 

 

**_One year later..._ **

"Eric!" The blonde leader whipped around where he stood, scanning the smoke-filled street. "Eric, help me!" Eric snapped his head up, to see Lauryn hanging from rotting scaffolding, three stories above the ground, attached to the side of the burning building. Eric dashed to the side wall, directly under Lauryn, dodging the bullets pelted at them by the rioting Factionless rebels. 

"Fuck! I'm coming Lauryn, hold on!" Eric cursed under his breath as an explosion nearly knocked him off his feet. He lithely began to climb up the side of the building, ignoring the searing heat from the flames inside whenever he passed a window. 

"Eric! What the hell are you doing, idiot?! It's too late! You'll never make it!" Four shouted from below, releasing a wave of bullets, returning fire against the Factionless as he took cover behind the door of an old car that had been abandoned before the war.

"Hang on, Lauryn! I'm almost there!" Eric hollers up to her, clinging to a windowsill as another explosion shakes the building, pieces of the burning scaffolding falling to the ground below, and throwing burning embers raining down on Eric. Lauryn screams as the metal bar she hangs from drops lower, supported only by three cracked, and rotting pieces of wood. 

The former Erudite brushes the hot coals off quickly, resuming his ascent to scale the side of the building. "Hold on, I got you!" Eric pushes off the wall with his left leg, throwing his body to the windowsill, just above where Lauryn struggles to keep her grip on the hot, metal bar. 

"Eric! I can't hang on much longer, it's burning me!" she screams in terror, clinging desperately to the piece of scrap metal for as long as she can. 

"Dauntless don't give up, Lauryn! Don't you fucking dare let go!" Eric shouts at her, gracefully hanging his body backwards from the windowsill by hooking his booted feet on the inside. He reaches his arms out to her, his fingertips mere inches away from being able to touch the bar that Lauryn so desperately clings to. 

"Take my hands, Lauryn! Now!" the Dauntless leader orders, and Lauryn takes a deep, steadying breath to prepare herself for what she will have to do. She calmly counts to three in her head, before throwing herself up just as the scaffolding collapses completely.   
Eric grabs her hands in the nick of time, pulling them both up using only his leg muscles, and pulling Lauryn in through the window. 

The building is in flames, and the weak structure begins to sway, and creak from the damage. 

"Go, go, go!" Eric screams, shoving the young instructor towards the stairs, following right at her heels. "Stop!" The blonde-haired leader grabs Lauryn by the collar, just as a large portion of roof collapses in their path. "I'll throw you!" Eric shouts, holding his hands out, clasped together over his knee, waiting for Lauryn. 

"No!" the young woman cries, in terror. "No! What about you?!"   
Eric rolls his eyes at the red-headed instructor, leaning down, and grabbing around her legs, before tossing her, with as much strength as he can muster, over the burning debris blocking their path. Lauryn landed on her feet, with the grace of a cat, and turned to look at her leader in fear. "Go!" Eric screams, turning to run back up the stairs. Dodging more falling debris, and climbing out the window once more, as he attempts to scale down the side of the building. 

Going down is harder than going up. 

"Eric!" Four shouts from his position below, when he sees what the young leader is doing. Eric is moving swiftly down the side of the building, but he is still almost two stories above the semi-safety of the ground. An explosion rattles the building once again, and Eric loses his grip as the force of the blast pushes him away from the exterior wall. 

Eric falls through the air, facing one of his worst fears in one terrifying moment.

Within seconds, the blonde-headed leader crashes onto the top of the old car that Four was using as a cover. "Shit, Eric!" Four rushes to pull the young leader off the car, and to the ground, sheltering them both from the storm of bullets still flying through the air. Four quickly inspects the blonde-haired man for injuries, cursing at the amount of blood pouring from the unconscious leader's nasty head wound. Four quickly pulls his radio from his belt, ducking as a bullet shatters the windshield of the car. 

"D.C., D.C., this is Four! Do you copy!" Four screams into the handheld radio, in a panic. 

"Four, this is D.C., go ahead, over." 

"D.C., Eric is down! I repeat, we have a leader down! Apparent head trauma, unconscious, and unresponsive! We need a recon team, and backup, a.s.a.p., over!" 

"Recon team deployed, stand by for extraction, over."

 

 

**_One week and three days later..._ **

BEEP... BEEP... BEEP... BEEP... BEEP...

Eric awakens with a throbbing headache, blinking his eyes as he tries to focus on his surroundings, he gingerly brings a hand to feel the bandage on his head. 

"Eric?... Hey, Eric's awake!" Eric groans as Lauryn screams down the hall, making his tender head pound even more. The red-headed girl practically sprints over to his bedside, looking at him expectantly, as Four, Max, and Amar hurriedly enter the small, dimly lit room. 

"Damn, Eric! We didn't know if you were gonna wake up!" Amar exclaims, relief evident in his voice. "It's nice to know you aren't dead." Eric rolls his eyes at his former instructor, wincing at the pain in his eyes from performing the subtle, sarcastic gesture. 

"You've been in a coma for a week and a half, get plenty of sleep?" Lauryn jokes, playfully, as the young leader glares at her in annoyance, and she giggles. "So, how are you feeling?" 

"I- I- I-..." Eric clears his throat, forcing a cough, before attempting to speak again. "I- I- I f- f- f..." 

The blonde-haired leader blinks his eyes rapidly in confusion, turning his worried gaze towards Max, who shares an equally worried expression. 

"M- m- m- Max? W- w- w- w- w- w-." Eric bites his tongue, quickly clamping a hand over his mouth. He doesn't understand why he can't speak correctly. 

"F- f- f- fuck!" Eric screams in frustration, pounding his fists into the mattress in his anger. 

"Four," Max and the former Abnegation share a wary gaze, and Four nods, hurrying off at the Dauntless leader's unspoken request for a doctor. 

"I don't understand?" Lauryn says, knitting her eyebrows together in confusion, as she looks from Max to Eric. "What's going on?" 

"F- f- f- fuck if I kn- kn- know!" Eric screams, fighting back against the tears pricking behind his eyes. "M- M- Max, w- wh- what's w- wrong with m- m- me?"


	2. Chapter One: Lia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, just a reminder, Eric and Four are now 19 years old. Eric will NOT be speaking for quite some time, but, as I've said previously, he will have thoughts in italics. Review and let me know what you think:)

**One year, ten months and four days later...**

"Cordelia! Hurry up, already! We're going to be late!" 

"Coming Mother!" 

Cordelia turned sixteen only two days ago, barely in time for the Aptitude test. The dark-haired Candor slams her bedroom door behind her, before zooming down the stairs. She will miss this place, and her family. Her Aptitude test resulted in Dauntless, and she made her parents aware of the fact that she would be choosing the warrior faction at the ceremony, today. This came as no surprise to Cordelia's parents. 

"Cord-! Finally, let's go!" Cordelia's mother ushers her husband and daughter through the door, before they walk briskly towards the elevators. 

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

 

Eric watches his movements carefully in the bathroom mirror, gliding the razor over the stubble which has grown over the past couple of days. He finishes up, and pats his face with a soft, grey towel, rechecking his appearance in the glass one last time, before heading into his kitchenette and starting a pot of coffee. As the young leader spoons the dark grounds into a filter, there is a knock on his door. 

Eric sighs, setting the scoop, and the filter, back on the counter before moving to open the door, stepping back to allow the brown-haired intelligence officer entry into his apartment. 

He sits on a high stool at the breakfast bar, grabbing a small pad of yellow paper, and a green ink pen. 

"The initiates will be arriving within the hour," Four begins, taking the only other stool, and leaning over on his elbow propped up on the counter. Eric continues to stare at him, just listening. 

"Still not gonna give the welcome speech today?" the former Abnegation inquires, knowing the answer before he asked. Eric hasn't spoken a word since the doctor explained that the wound the former Erudite received to his head, had damaged the superior longitudinal fasciculus in the left hemosphere of his brain, rendering Eric with a permanent stutter.  
The blue-eyed man scratched the pen across the surface of the pad, ripping off the used piece of paper, and sliding it to Four. The brown-haired man snatched the paper up, his honey-brown orbs scanning the word written there: Duh.  
Four sighed, running his fingers through his mussy, brown locks, before standing and nodding towards the door.  
"Let's get to the roof, then. I guess I got, again," Four said, as he walked out the door, Eric following, silently, behind him.

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"Dauntless!"  
The middle section of the Hub erupted into cheers, as the Candor girl made her way over to sit with her new faction, grinning at the warm welcome.  
An older-looking member stood, offering her his seat, and she took it offering a smile in gratitude, as he turned to leave and patted her on the shoulder.  
Cordelia didn't have the opportunity to sit there long, however, as her's was the next to last name on the list. "Come on!" a girl to right grabbed her arm, hauling her out of the seat, and pulling the dark-haired girl along, until she had made sure that she would keep up.  
Cordelia wasn't a runner; Candor wasn't a very active faction. But the amber-eyed girl decided that she liked running, as they sprinted down the steps, and out the door. The Dauntless whooped and hollered the whole way, laughing and racing to the elevated train tracks. The blue-haired girl who had pulled Cordelia from her seat, pushed her towards the beam in front of her, as she started to climb, the Candor girl following right behind her.  
They reached the top, and the Dauntless-born girl reached down to help pull the transfer up onto the platform, just as the train made an appearance, as it sped down the tracks towards them. "Come on, we have to jump!" the blue-haired girl exclaimed, as she began to run down the length of the platform.  
The train whizzed by, sweeping Cordelia's hair in her face, as she ran alongside the massive, metal machine. She watched as the blue-haired girl leaped off the platform, grabbing a bar on the outside of the door, and pulled herself in to the car.  
Cordelia pushed herself to move her legs faster, her lungs burning, as she followed suit and jumped, grabbing the handle, and swinging her body inside. She stumbled forward a bit, but caught herself before she fell, as a grin lit up her face. She had just jumped on a moving train.  
The dark-haired girl exhaled deeply, blowing a piece of hair out of her mouth, and sat down against the metal interior as she came down from her adrenaline high. The blue-haired girl slid down beside her, holding out her hand.  
Cordelia took the offered hand, and shook it firmly. "Cordelia," she said, still breathing heavily. The blue-haired girl smiled, flashing two rows of blinding, white teeth.  
"I'm Sassy," she says, leaning back against the wall, as she pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket, followed by a small book of matches. She placed one of the cigarettes between her lips, striking a match and holding it to the end of the small roll of tobacco, inhaling as she did so, causing the end to glow as the dried, cut leaves began to burn.  
"Is that your real name?" Cordelia asks, raising an eyebrow. She'd never heard a name like that before, though, the word had been used to describe her character several times back at Candor.  
"Yeah," the blue-haired girl answers her, with a smirk, before punching Cordelia lightly in the shoulder. Both of the girls laugh, and Cordelia is pleased that she has already made a friend.  
"Everybody up!" Cordelia turns her head towards the mocha-skinned woman who spoke, as all of the other initiates stand to their feet, crowding by the doors.  
Sassy grabs her hand, grinning from ear to ear, as the teenagers begin jumping out of the train. Cordelia's eyes go wide, with shock, when she realizes that they are leaping onto a roof that is at least seven stories from the ground. "Are they trying to kill us?" she asks the blue-haired girl, incredulously.  
The other girl just rolls her eyes, and giggles, as she pulls the amber-eyed girl back away from the door. "Just tuck you legs in before you land, and roll. Jump on three, okay?"  
Cordelia swallows nervously, but she nods her head in agreement, as Sassy begins the countdown. "...2...3! Jump!" They run to edge of the car, together, jumping at the last second, before they are flying through the air, Cordelia holding back a scream. She does as her new friend instructed, and tucks her legs underneath herself, before rolling across the roof.  
She comes to a stop, sprawled out on her back, and laughs. "I know, right?" Sassy relates, bending down to help up the Candor girl.  
"Initiates! Listen up!" The girls turn to find a slender, but muscular, man with brown hair, and honey-brown eyes, standing on the opposite side of the roof. The initiates crowd around him, Sassy and Cordelia pushing their way to the front, giggling.  
Eric glares at the giggling girls, and when they notice his harsh expression, their smiles disappear, giving way to intimidated demeanors. Eric nods in their direction, satisfied with their compliance, as he returns his features to a blank expression as he scans the initiates.  
Cordelia swallows thickly, fear bubbling in her stomach, as she quickly returns her attention to the brown-haired man, Sassy following suit.  
"My name's Four; don't ask. Today you have chosen Dauntless as your permanent place of residence. You have passed the first test by not dying between the Hub and the roof that you now stand on," Four explains, clasping his hands together behind his back, as he paces in front of the initiates. "But, you aren't done, yet. You still have to pass two stages of training, and a final test, before you can become a full-fledged member of Dauntless. Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, though, there's another small test," Four smiles, ceasing his pacing, as he gestures behind him.  
"What, you want us to jump?" a boy from Amity inquires, in shock. The brown-haired man, smirks, mischieviously.  
"Yep," he replies, moving to the side to stand by the young Dauntless leader. "And somebody's gotta go first. Who's it gonna be?"  
A silence falls over the initiates at this revelation, no one among them fond of the idea.  
"Is there water at the bottom, or something?" Cordelia asks, raising her hand a bit, and stepping forward. Surely, they wouldn't send all of their initiates to their deaths by having them commit suicide.  
The dark-haired girl watches as Four and the blonde-haired man beside him exchange a glance. "I guess you'll find out, huh?" he replies, vaguely, as Cordelia steps forward determinedly. She peaks over the edge, to see a large hole between the roof that the initiates occupy, and the building across from it. It's so dark, she can't tell if there is anything at the bottom or not, but she knows there must be.  
She steps up onto the ledge, turning her head back around to wave at Sassy, and then she throws herself off of the roof. The wind pulls up from under Cordelia, as her body slices through the air, before she lands on something soft, and bounces up in the air a few times.  
It was a net.  
The Candor girl laughs to herself, as she moves to climb down before another initiate has the opportunity to land on top of her, and hands reach up to help her to the ground.  
"Thank you," she tells the red-headed woman, with a smile. "What's your name?"  
The red-headed woman laughs a bit. "Usually, I ask you that question, first. My name is Lauryn, I train the Dauntless-born initiates," she states, with a grin, placing her hands on her hips. "So, you can change your name if you want, but I need to tell these idiots something," she says, gesturing to a group of Dauntless standing around.  
Cordelia has to think about that for a moment, but it doesn't take her very long to decide.  
"My name's Lia," the amber-eyed girl declares, enjoying the way the shortened name feels rolling off her tongue, lightly. Lauryn turns around to address the Dauntless standing around the dimly lit room.  
"First jumper, Lia!" she hollers, as the mob of black-clad persons begins cheering her name, patting her on the back as she moves to stand with them. It isn't long before Sassy joins her, along with all but one of the rest of the initiates.  
Lauryn introduces herself to everyone else, explaining that she will be training the Dauntless-born, and that the transfer's instructors will be joining them, shortly. No sooner had the words left the red-headed woman's mouth, before another black-clad body fell from above, landing silently in the net. The young, blonde leader hopped over the side, needing no help, and moved to stand beside Lauryn, icy-blue eyes looking over his transfers.  
"What's your name, then?" Lia asks, looking to the blonde-haired man expectantly. He shares her gaze for a moment, before exaggeratingly rolling his head to the side, raising an eyebrow at Lauryn.  
"This is Eric, he's one of your leaders," the red-head explains, as the rest of the transfers share confused looks. Lia found the lack of response to be odd; she wondered what his problem was.  
"Can't you speak?" Lia asks, scoffing, and crossing her arms over her chest. "Do you think you're better than a bunch of transfers, so you can't even answer our questions? Aren't you supposed to be training us?"  
Eric began to breathe heavily through his nose, as he glared daggers at the Candor girl. He crossed the distance separating them, swiftly, never breaking eye contact, and entered her personal space, stopping only inches in front of her. He continued to glare down at the girl, as he raised two of his fingers, first pointing to his eyes, then pointing to Lia, before backing up, slowly.  
_"Watch it, Candor! I got my eyes on you..."_  
Lia gulped nervously, she should learn to hold her tongue; she isn't at Candor, anymore. Four entered the room then, and Lia gratefully moved her gaze to the man with the honey-brown orbs.  
"Alright, transfers! Follow me, and keep up!" Four ordered, as he turned and began to jog through the door. The transfers complied quickly, and followed him through the corridors. 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

 

 _"Who does she think she is, talking to me, like that?! What the hell did I do to her? Fucking Candor bitch..."_  
"Don't sweat it, Eric," Lauryn directs her words, gently, at the youngest Dauntless leader, who is still fuming. He clenches, and unclenches his fists, several times, as he attempts to calm himself down, fighting against the urge to hit something. "They'll figure out you don't talk to anyone, soon enough."  
Eric's gaze softens considerably as he meets the red-head's eyes, slightly surprised at the hurt evident in her voice. He raises a pierced eyebrow, awaiting an elaboration. She smiles at him softly, but he can still see the pain in her green eyes.  
"Ya' know, sometimes I wish you'd have just let me die," Lauryn admits, sorrowfully, brushing a strand of red hair behind her ear.  
Eric swallows thickly, a pained grimace plastered on his face, as he shakes his head slowly.  
_"Don't say shit like that, Lauryn..."_  
"Nobody would judge you, ya' know," the red-headed woman informs him, quietly. "Especially if you let me tell everyone about how you saved my life."  
Eric stares into her eyes intensely, squinting a bit, and blinking rapidly, as his eyes begin to twitch. Lauryn notices when his lips part slightly, raising hope inside of her, that maybe he'll say something. Eric shut his mouth abruptly, moving his gaze to the floor, as he let out a deep sigh. He shook his head, dejectedly, as he spun around and walked away.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

 

Lia changed into her new dark-colored clothing, not the least bit uncomfortable about the fact that there were males present. Her sixteen years in Candor apparently helped to prepare her, the way they lay everything out in the open, never hiding anything. Once she had changed, she sat on the edge of her cot, waiting for the others to finish up.  
A few of the transfers were just lacing up their new, black combat boots when Four and Eric appeared in the doorway.  
"Everybody in the cafeteria in two minutes, unless you want all the food to be gone when you get there," Four announces, before he and Eric turn to head that way, the majority of the initiates following behind them, instantly.  
They jog into the caffeteria, briskly, before spreading out to different tables. Lia sat at a table with the Amity boy who spoke on the roof earlier, and two transfers from Erudite. She leaned over the table, grabbing a roll and a piece of baked chicken, placing the food on her plate. "I'm Lia," she says, nudging the Amity boy seated next to her, as she takes a bite of the roll.  
"I'm Marc," he replies, grinning goofily, with a mouth full of chicken. Lia laughs at him, and he joins her, spewing a bit of chewed up poultry out of his mouth in the process.  
"Ew!" Lia squeaks, before laughing at the silly Amity boy. "Marc, you're so weird!" Marc took a sip of water from his glass, giggling a bit, and blushing.  
"So, you're from Amity, huh? I thought Amity opposed violence," Lia stated, following her question with another bite of her roll. Marc shrugged his shoulders, tossing his head to move the lengthy, ginger locks out of his eyes. "I never really fit in there," he explains, simply, chewing his food thoughtfully.  
"So, why'd a Candor like yourself join the ranks, huh?" Marc inquired, scooting forward a bit on the bench he was seated on. Lia didn't hesitate to answer.  
"I was bored," she remarks, swallowing the food in her mouth. "I figured I'd either join Dauntless or Erudite, and when I got Dauntless on my test, I made up my mind."  
"You seem like you must've fit in really well, at Candor," the freckled boy suggests with a grin. Lia elbows Marc in the side, before grinning, as well, when the former Amity boy feigns injury.  
Everyone at the table looks up when Four places both his hands, roughly, at the end of the table, right where Lia is sitting. He glares down at her, for a moment, before his expression softens a bit.  
"Lia?" he says, calmly, his voice even. "I heard about what happened, at the net. I would not suggest doing that, again." Four keeps his voice low, but firm, willing the Candor girl to obey.  
"Why? That guy is so full of himself, he can't be bothered to speak to an initiate! As a matter of fact, he made a point to specifically _not_ speak to me," Lia asserts, crossing her arms over her chest, as she holds the other man's gaze.  
Four clenches his jaw, his nostrils flaring, as he leans forward, menacingly. "Keep your mouth shut about things you don't understand, _initiate_ ," he responded, his voice low, and dark, before he stood up straight, and walked away.  
Lia watched as Four retreated, before turning back around and sharing a confused look with Marc. "Well, that was odd," she stated, quietly, before giving her food attention, once more.


	3. Chapter Two - Put in Her Place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to say thank you to everyone who reviewed and left me kudos:) I ADORE reviews:) xoxo

"For a farmer, you are really weak." Marc sighs in exasperation, while Lia chuckles at the browned-haired instuctor's comment. She continues to strike out at the heavy bag, sweat dripping down her milky-white skin.  
The dark-haired girl breathes out, forcefully, with every hit. She was so consumed in her punches, that she didn't notice when the blonde leader walked up behind her, scrutinizing her movements.  
Lia jumped, startled, when she felt warm hands grip her hips suddenly. She turned her head up to discover that her face was exceptionally close to the intimidating instructor's chin. Eric gazed down at her with cold eyes, before nodding towards where his hands were. He silently twisted her hips, and pressed a hand to her stomach, applying a slight pressure. Lia gulped as he backed away and went to stand in the shadows, just watching. Watching the initiates. Watching her.  
She was surprised that, even though he hadn't said a word to her, she somehow understood what he wanted her to do. She applied the advice, throwing more of her weight into the punches, as a result, making them much more efficient.  
Throughout the rest of that afternoon, Lia found herself sneaking glances at the blue-eyed leader. He was intimidating. He was so silent, it was almost creepy. It didn't take her long to figure out that he didn't speak to Four, or anyone else, either. What she couldn't understand, was why. And it was driving her curious mind insane.  
"Alright, that's it for today," Four announced, gathering everyone together near the elevated ring in the middle of the training room. "Get cleaned up, and get to the cafeteria." The brown-haired instructor didn't say anything else to the initiates, before he walked off to the side and whispered to the young leader.  
Lia hesitated to leave with the rest of the initiates, and instead, stared at the two instructors. She just couldn't help it; she was too curious.  
She couldn't make out what Four said to Eric, but she noticed that Eric answered him, by pulling a pad and pen out of his back pocket. He wrote something on the paper and handed it to the brown-eyed instructor. She became even more confused, and curious, when Four laughed at whatever the blonde had written on it.  
She didn't realize she had giggled, until both of the men turned their eyes on her. Eric glared at her, and she shrunk under his cold gaze, as she felt her face begin to heat up.  
Lia began to back up, as the silent man strode towards her, and felt her knees trembling. She was scared of this young leader.  
He didn't utter a word, as per usual, but he continued to glare at her as he raised an arm and pointed towards the exit, nodding his head in that direction.  
Cordelia swallowed thickly, as he backed away from her, never breaking eye contact. She escaped quickly, jogging her way through the dark, damp corridors back to the dorm room.  
When she went to gather clean clothes for after she got out of the shower, she suddenly realized that she had left her jacket back in the training room. There was no way on earth she was about to go back for it.  
_"I'll just get tomorrow,"_ she thought, as she gathered the small bundle of clothing, and her towel.  
There were still a few initiates in the showers, but it didn't bother her.  
"Shit, Lia!" Marc exclaimed, when Lia turned on the spray next to him, and he hurried to cover himself with his hands. Lia smirked at him, as she stripped down, before stepping under the hot water, relishing in the way that the warm liquid soothed her aching muscles.  
"Don't be so shy, Marc," she said with a giggle, as she began to massage shampoo into her long, silky hair. "You don't see me being self-conscious, do you?"  
The ginger-haired Amity boy hesitantly removed his hands, turning his back to the former Candor girl, and continued to wash himself.  
"I'm just not used to... this," he said, glancing around the co-ed showers.  
"You better get used to it, then," Lia replied, as she lathered her body with soap. "We're gonna be sharing a lot together." Marc turned his head slightly, to see the dark-haired girl gesturing towards the toilets, where one of the initiates sat.  
"Ew," he said, quietly, causing Lia to laugh, loudly. They finished up quickly, drying off and pulling on their clothes, before heading down to the dining hall for dinner.  
"Lia!"  
The Candor girl barely had time to register who had shouted her name, before there was a mess of blue hair in her face.  
"Sassy?" she said, as the Dauntless-born girl hugged her waist tightly. "I can't breathe!"  
The blue-haired girl released her, before grabbing her hand, and pulling her along to a table with more Dauntless-borns. Marc followed, awkwardly.  
"You guys sit with us!" she ordered, sliding onto the bench, as Lia and the Amity boy complied. "So, this is Lia," Sassy began, placing a hand on the dark-haired girl's shoulder. "And, this is...?"  
"Marc," the Amity boy replied, smiling at the bubbly Dauntless-born girl. Sassy grinned widely, before introducing herself to Marc, and then introducing the rest of the Dauntless-born at her table.  
"This is Uriah, he's crazy! And, the two idiots sucking face are Violet, and Todd," the blue-haired girl pointed to a girl with dark, purple hair and a deep tan, and a boy with striking, green hair, and several facial piercings. Lia could tell that Marc felt uncomfortable sitting so close to the passionately kissing lovebirds.  
"I thought Amity was all about 'free love', and all that?" the Candor girl inquired of the ginger boy. She could see the blush creep over his face, and he looked down, before filling his plate with beans, sliced bread, and some questionable meat in gravy.  
They chatted all through dinner, and Lia noticed how Marc kept stealing glances at Sassy, and vice versa. She didn't say anything, although, she really wanted to.  
"Hey!" Sassy exclaimed, suddenly, causing Lia to jump a bit. "Hey that's my favorite song! Turn it up!" The blue-haired girl screamed the last part, and to Lia's surprise, the music got loud; really loud.  
**_I'm walking down the line_  
** That divides me somewhere in my mind  
On the border line  
Of the edge and where I walk alone

****_Read between the lines_  
Of what's fucked up and everything's alright  
Check my vital signs  
To know I'm still alive and I walk alone 

****_I walk alone_  
I walk alone  
I walk alone  
I walk a... 

****_My shadow's the only one that walks beside me_  
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating  
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me  
'Til then I walk alone** 

"Well, that's fucking depressing," Lia states, simply, pulling off a piece of bread and popping it in her mouth. Sassy laughs, as well as Marc, Violet, Todd and Uriah.  
"Yeah, I know right?" Uriah says, climbing over the table to sit between Marc and Cordelia. He knocks over a few glasses, and plates in the process.  
"Uri!" cries Violet, swatting at him with her hand, but he just shoots her a wicked grin.  
"So," Uriah begins, once he's settled comforably between the two transfers. "How is the training going?" Lia smiles at how easy going the Dauntless-born boy is. She wipes the corner of her mouth with a napkin before answering him.  
"It's okay, just..." Lia trails off, with a frown. She doesn't think she'll have a problem with the actual training; just, maybe the trainer. The blonde one. The silent one. The creepy one.  
"Just, what?" Sassy asks, concern in her voice, and she begins to rub the dark-haired girl's back. Lia chuckles a bit, shrugging the hand off and elbowing the blue-haired girl.  
"Just, Eric," she sighs, leaning forward, and resting her chin in the palm of her hand. A few eyebrows go up, and a few heads tilt to the side, at her answer.  
"What about Eric?" Todd inquires, as the entire table seems to be intently staring at her now. Lia rolls her eyes, and sighs again. She doesn't really know the answer to that question. It just is.  
"I don't know," she starts, softly, rubbing her face. "He doesn't say anything to me, but I constantly feel intimidated by him. And like, today, it was really odd."  
"How so?" Marc pipes up, and Lia turns to look at him, giving him a small smile.  
"I kinda got curious, so I stayed behind when you were leaving out, and I was watching Four and Eric. Four said something to Eric, and then Eric wrote something on a piece of paper, and then Four laughed. And I laughed, and Eric..."  
Lia sighed heavily, her shoulders drooping. "It's stupid. I felt like I was a kid caught eavesdropping. I thought I was in trouble. He just walked up to me and pointed at the damn door! What the hell is that about? I mean, why doesn't he say anything? Is he mute?"  
Sassy, Violet and Todd exchange nervous glances, before pointing in the direction directly behind Lia.  
"Oh my god," Cordelia whispers, feeling her face heat up, as she slowly turned around on the bench. _"How does he keep doing that?"_ she thought, seeing Eric standing over her.  
The blue-eyed leader wore a blank expression, almost like a mask. He held out a dark piece of fabric, and Lia hesitated, only momentarily, before she grabbed it. He had returned her jacket to her.  
"Um... Thank you?" she said, quietly. Eric nodded, and turned to leave, but she grabbed his arm to stop him. He slowly turned back around, staring down at her. He raised an eyebrow at her in question.  
"Are you mute?" Lia asks, tilting her head to the side, unable to help herself. She hears a few gasps from the people at her table, but, luckily most of the other people in the cafeteria are too caught up in their own conversations to notice the scene unfolding with the Candor transfer and the young leader.  
Something unreadable flashes across his eyes, but it is gone quickly. He slowly shakes his head, and Lia sighs in frustration. "Well, why the fuck don't you talk then? It's kind of creepy the way you just sneak up on people, too. Is that why you don't talk? You just like to be creepy? Why are-? Ow!"  
_"I really hope I don't end up murdering this stupid Candor bitch... What's with all the fucking questions?"_  
Lia placed her cool hand to her stinging cheek, her eyes wide with shock.  
"You slapped me!" she accuses, growing angry, as a few tears spill from her eyes. She was embarrassed, and that really did hurt. She wouldn't be surprised if there was a handprint on her cheek tomorrow.  
_"Well, duh, Ms. Obvious."_  
Eric shrugged, smirking, before he took his leave. He really was getting sick and tired of the Candor girl's constant questioning.  
_"Almost would think she's from Erudite, with all the damn questions."_

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Eric walked briskly through the corridors, the flickering, flourescent lights throwing dancing shadows over his face. He wondered why he even bothered to answer Lia's first question. He didn't have to answer that. He didn't have to do anything. So, why did he? Why did he shake his head when she asked if he was mute?  
Eric sighed in frustration. He was letting a stupid Candor transfer get to him. That was going to stop, now. He hurried through the halls, stopping outside a door that was four stories above the Pit, and knocked loudly.  
He didn't have to wait long before the door opened, to reveal a very tired looking Lauryn. She just stared at him for a minute, and he stared right back, before raising that pierced eyebrow of his. The red-head rolled her eyes, exhaling loudly, before moving out of the way to let the young leader in.  
"What's up?" she asked, as they settled on the couch. The green-eyed girl curled her legs up under her on the far end, and Eric leaned back, stretching out his legs, with his feet on the coffee table. The young leader shrugged, slightly, in answer to her question, causing the red-head to sigh in exasperation.  
"Seriously, Eric? You come knocking on my door when I'm trying to relax, and then when I ask you 'what's up', you just shrug?" Lauryn scoffs, crossing her arms, and shifting slightly in her seat. "Come on, now."  
Eric lifted his hips up off of the couch a bit, so he could to pull out his pad and pen from his back pocket. Lauryn sighed when she saw him scribbling. She missed when they used to talk about everything. But, ever since he found out about his medical condition... It hadn't been the same. Eric hadn't been the same. The red-head blamed herself.  
Eric reached his arm out to hand her the small piece of paper. She looked it over briefly: The Candor bitch. Lauryn gave him a look that said, 'seriously?'.  
"First jumper? What about her?" the green-eyed girl inquired, as she moved to sit cross-legged when her feet started to go to sleep. Eric scribbled on the pad again, and handed her the next note: Questions.  
"So," said Lauryn, raising her eyebrow, and shaking her head a bit. "Lot's of people have asked you questions. You don't answer them. You don't have to answer them. You never have, before. What's the problem, here? Because I'm just not getting it."  
Eric sighed, deeply, running a hand through his blonde hair, before he wrote out yet another note: I answered one... She asked if I was mute, and I shook my head no. She kept asking questions. I slapped her.  
The young leader's mouth was set in a thin line while he wrote, and he almost ripped the paper to hand it to Lauryn. Her eyes skimmed over the words, her face softening a bit.  
"Eric, look," the red-head started, scooting close to the blonde, and looking up into his icy-blue orbs. "I would say not to let her get to you, but... I wish somebody would get to you. I miss your voice... I don't care how it sounds; I just miss your voice."  
_"I fucking care how it sounds. I sound like a fucking retard."_  
"You can't keep quiet forever. Sooner or later, you'll need to speak. It can either be on your terms, or it will be on somebody elses. I know you. I know you're rattling off all kinda crap in that messed up head of yours..."  
_"Yep, I surely fucking am."_  
"...but, I really wish you would at least consider it, yeah?" Eric shakes his head in response, and Lauryn's eyes fall as she sighs. "Fine, get out of my apartment, you big, dumb brute."  
Eric almost laughed at that.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

"I can't believe he fucking slapped me!" Lia exclaims when the initiates have settled into the dorms. Marc sits on the Candor girl's bed, as they talk, playing with his longer, ginger hair.  
"I hate to say this, Lia," he starts, blushing, and ducking his head a bit. "But, if I was him, I probably would've slapped you, too." Lia punches the Amity boy in the shoulder, and he lets out a yelp of pain.  
"What the fuck, Marc?!"  
"I'm just saying... like, I'm sure he has a good reason? Maybe?" Marc ducked just in time, as a pillow came soaring straight at his head, barely missing him.  
"A good reason? To fucking slap me?!" Lia almost shouts, her pride, and feelings, hurt by the incident.  
"No, no! Not to slap you! Please, stop hitting me!" Marc squeals, relieved when Lia backs off a bit. The Candor girl is still fuming, though. "I'm just saying... maybe he has a good reason not to talk? Like, I knew this boy in Amity..."  
"I don't care! I just want to go to sleep. Marc, get back to bed," Lia huffs out angrily, as she pushes at the bigger boy. He concedes with a "Yes, ma'am," and all but jumps on his cot, snuggling down under his blanket, and covering up his head.  
Lia scoots down and curls up, as well, eventually falling into the welcome, dark tendrils of sleep.

**_** Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day_ **


	4. Chapter Three - Mad World

"You totally have a handprint on your face," Marc asserted, as he blocked the practice strikes that the Candor girl threw. Lia made a point to not make eye contact with the young Dauntless leader. She didn't even spare a passing glance in his direction, all morning.   
"Tell me something that I don't know," Lia replied, increasing the power she put into the punches. She was angry. She was furious. She just couldn't understand what Eric's deal was.   
Cordelia was becoming breathless, striking out at the Amity boy's padded hands, again, and again.   
Eventually, Four called the break for lunch, and Lia all but dragged Marc down to the cafeteria.   
They sat at the table with Sassy, Uriah, Violet, and Todd, again, striking up a conversation almost as soon as they sat down.   
"Ya' know," the blue-haired girl announced, speaking through a mouth full of balogna sandwich. "You totally have a handprint on your face."  
Lia sighs, heavily, poking at her own sandwich. She doesn't have much of an appetite, today. "I know," she grumbled, touching the tender flesh with her fingertips, and wincing.   
"Hey, don't worry about him," Sassy said, attempting to lighten the other girl's mood. "Let's go shopping before dinner, huh? You could use the Dauntless makeover." That brought a smile to the dark-haired girl's face. Lia definitely liked the sound of that.   
"Count me in!" she agreed, nodding in excitement.  
"Hey, so I've heard some rumours..." Uriah starts, speaking in a hushed tone, and leaning around Sassy to look at Lia.   
"About Eric?" Lia inquired, the curiousity practically dripping from her voice. "Well?"  
Uriah glanced around the room, before continuing. "I heard there was an attack on his patrol, a little over a year ago. I don't know exactly what happened, but... my brother was on a search and rescue detail, and, he told me that the guy was pretty bad off; said he was in a coma for a while. Apparently, he went into that fight with quite the colorful vocabulary, and then... nothing."   
"Wait, seriously?" Lia asked, her eyes going wide. Uriah nodded his head.   
"Yeah, I mean, Zeke doesn't have a reason to lie," he stated simply, shrugging. "I wouldn't doubt it, for a second. Maybe the guy has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or something."   
Lia thought that sounded logical.   
"Yeah, Zeke said that Eric ranked first, in both stages of training, and that he's the youngest, full-fledged leader that Dauntless has ever had. According to my brother, he was an asshole."   
Everyone at the table laughed at that.   
"Yeah, that hasn't changed, anyway," Marc stated, giving the rest of his sandwich to Sassy. The gesture didn't go unnoticed by Lia, and it was all she could do to hold her tongue.   
"Their tears are filling up their glasses. No expression, no expression. Hide my head, I wanna drown my sorrow. No tomorrow, no tomorrow..." Violet was singing along with her small CD player, and everyone at the table turned to look at her. She paused the music, and blushed.   
"What are you listening too?" Marc asked, finally tearing his gaze away from the blue-haired girl. Violet shrugged a bit.  
"It's a song called Mad World, I don't know who sings it..." the purple-haired girl looked thoughtful for a moment. "My dad runs the music shop, and somebody just drops these CDs off in the mailbox every so often. We've never seen who it was, though. We just listen to it, and my dad adds the music to the playlist for the radio. It's the same guy that sings Boulevard of Broken Dreams; the one Sassy likes. They're underground recordings; whoever writes this stuff, records it at home on an eight-track."  
"Ooooh, mystery musician!" Lia exclaims, clapping her hands together, excitedly. "Well, now you know I've got to find out who this guy is. I love solving a mystery. It's really sad, though."   
Violet smiles at the dark-haired girl, turning the speaker up so they can hear. 

****_And I find it kinda funny_  
I find it kinda sad  
The dreams in which I'm dying  
Are the best I've ever had 

****_I find it hard to tell you_  
I find it hard to take  
When people run in circles  
It's a very, very mad world, mad world** 

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

 

"You're actually kinda good at this," Four watches intently, as Lia lets yet another knife soar, and it sticks close to the center of the target. Lia smiles at him, as she continues to throw the knives, picking up her speed, and hitting dead center, almost every time.   
"Hey!"   
Lia stops throwing, and turns to see Eric shove Marc, before pointing at the knife that had just clanged to the floor. Marc wasn't very good at throwing knives, yet.   
"What, you want me to go out there to get it?" Marc inquires, giving the young leader an incredulous expression. Eric nods slowly, like it should be obvious.   
"What, while they're still throwing?"   
"Everybody stop!" Four hollers out, from beside Lia. She felt like she was about to jump out of her skin.   
Eric shoved the Amity boy towards the target, glaring daggers the whole time, before turning around, and walking back to Marc's station. He picked up a knife from off the table, turning it over, the overhead lights glinting off the shiny metal.   
"You're gonna stand there while he throws those knives at you. If you flinch, you're out."   
Lia was suprised at the cold tone in Four's voice. She couldn't believe they were about to do this. There was no way Marc would make it through this. Eric took a deep breath, and raised his arm.  
"Stop!"   
Everyone in the training room turned to look at the Candor girl. Lia swallowed when she made eye contact with the intimidating leader, but she held her head high, anyway.   
"Anyone can stand in front of a target. It doesn't prove anything," her voice was surprisingly more confident than she felt. On the inside, fear was eating her alive; clawing at her stomach.   
Eric raised an eyebrow at her, before nodding at Four. The brown-haired instructor raised his hand, waving Marc away from the target. Then the blonde leader gestured for Lia to step up.   
The dark-haired girl took a deep breath as she took her friend's place in front of the board. She prayed that Eric wouldn't kill her.   
"Same rules apply," Four called, from the sidelines, crossing his arms as he moved to stand beside the daunting, blue-eyed leader.   
Eric smirked at Lia, before drawing his arm back. He let the sharp blade fly, and Lia heard a SMACK when it landed by her head. She tried to control her breathing, and focused on her anger at the blonde. She glared right back at him, never breaking eye contact again, as he let loose knife, after knife.   
She didn't move at all, until she felt a small sting at the crest of her ear. She raised her hand to feel the wound, pulling it back down to see the crimson blood, staining her fingertips.   
She looked back up, to meet Eric's gaze, again, although this time, his expression was bordering on amusement.   
_"Well, you asked for it."_  
She stalked towards him, the rage beyond her control. "You cut me, you fucking asshole!" she screamed in his face, her anger only growing when he grinned at her.   
Eric raised his right hand up, and gently touched Lia's cheek, feeling a sort of satisfaction when he realized that the mark on her face fit his hand perfectly. He withdrew his fingers from her face, and nodded in agreement, before turning, and walking away.   
"Hey, wait!"   
_"What the fuck does Candor want, now?"_  
"I'm not done talking to you!" Lia screams, running in front of him, and blocking his path. Eric moves to walk around her, but she blocks him, again. The blonde leader crosses his arms over his chest, and glares down at her, raising an eyebrow. He was daring her to continue.   
"Why? I just want to know, why?" Lia asks, attempting to lower her voice, and calm down a bit. She was asking why he cut her, but, she was really asking two different questions.   
Eric could sense the change in her tone, and it irritated him beyond reason. He took a step closer to her, and Lia could feel his breath blowing her eyelashes, gently, as she looked up into his icy-blue orbs. She felt so small this close to him. He was so eerily quiet, and it terrified her.   
Slowly, he touched a finger to her lips, as if to shush her, before stepping to the side and walking away, exiting the training room. 

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

 

"Hey, why are you so quiet? You don't like shopping?" Violet inquired, as they browsed through rack, after rack of dark clothing. Lia sighed, and offered a small smile. She just couldn't stop thinking about Eric. She was scared of him, to be sure. She didn't understand why she just couldn't keep her mouth closed around him.   
"No," she said, quietly, grabbing a deep, ruby red blouse off the rack. "I like shopping. I was just thinking." She inspected the shirt for a moment, before putting it back down.   
"About what?" Sassy piped up, holding a black mini dress to herself. "About Eric?"   
Lia sighed again, and shook her head. "Hey, let's go pay for this shit, and get out of here. I wanna get a lip ring."   
The girls payed for their new clothes, and accessories, and made their way down to the tattoo parlor. There were a few people getting tattoos, and there was a large, burly man waiting at an empty station. He stood to greet the initiates when they entered.   
"Getting a tattoo?" he asked, as he led Lia over to his chair. She shook her head, glancing around at the different templates lining the walls. The dim lighting was multicolored, and gave the parlor a cozy feeling. It was very relaxing, and hypnotic.   
"I just want to get a lip ring, right here," she replied, pointing to the right side of her full, bottom lip.   
"I think I can help you with that," he answered, with a grin. Lia chatted with Violet, and Sassy, while the big man prepared a piercing gun with a plain, silver ball.   
"You'll need to wait about a week before you change the ring, and you need to clean it twice a day, got it?" he asked, holding the gun up by his head. The dark-haired girl nodded, and he pulled out her lip, stretching it, and quickly pulled the trigger. It happened so fast, she wasn't even sure if he had even pierced it yet.   
"Am I done, already?" Lia asked, raising her eyebrow, in confusion. The man laughed, and slapped her on the back. He introduced himself as Paul, and explained that if it got irritated, or caused her too much pain, that she needed to come back, immediately.   
"And try not to get punched in the mouth," Paul remarked, as the girls exited the parlor.   
Sassy and Violet helped carry Lia's purchases to the dorm room, before they hugged, and parted ways.   
Lia was really not looking forward to going back in to training the next morning.

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

 

_"Candor smart mouth... Stupid bitch... Can't keep her damn lips shut..."_  
Eric paced back and forth in his apartment, trying, unsuccessfully, to get his anger under control. He had been fuming about Lia before he fell asleep, and he was still fuming when he woke up.  
 _"She just doesn't know when to shut up! What the fuck does she ask so many goddamn questions for?"_  
The young leader growled, in frustion, when the alarm on his watch beeped. He exhaled loudly, as he exited the room, heading down the stairs, and to the training room.   
Eric really did not want to go in there, but if he didn't... He wasn't about to let a Candor transfer win. He was the winner.   
He stormed into the training room, with a scowl on his face, and even Four seemed to try and avoid the seething blonde.   
Eric caught Lia's gaze, and he glared at her. She glared right back.   
The blue-eyed man couldn't believe how bold the dark-haired girl was. She must have a death wish.   
Four called out for the first jumper, and the last jumper, to enter the ring. That brought a grin to the young leader's face. The Erudite boy would do the job for him.   
Lia nervously shifted her gaze to the ring, before she slowly approached the elevated mat. She pulled off her boots, and tied her hair up in a messy bun on top of her head, before she stepped up into the ring.   
The large Erudite boy climbed up only seconds after Lia, glancing between Lia's smaller frame, and Four.   
"How long do we fight for?" he asked, nervously. Lia couldn't tell if he was nervous he might lose, or if he was nervous he might accidentally kill her.   
"Until one of you can't continue," Four answered plainly, folding his arms, and gesturing for the two initiates to begin.   
Lia swallowed nervously, glancing at Marc briefly, before her eyes found Eric. He was smirking at her.   
She almost scoffed at him, but a hard blow to her ribs made her drop to the mat, clutching her side.   
She rolled away, just in time, as the Erudite boy raised his foot to perform an axe kick. She got to her feet, quickly, drawing her hands up in front of her face, ready for the next attack. The large boy attempted a cross, but Lia was watching his shoulders; she knew he was going to fake that jab. She dropped low, and kicked his knees with both of her feet, and when he fell back, she jumped on top of him, swinging for the fences.   
She didn't hear her name being called, all she saw was red. She continued her assault on the Erudite boy, until she felt a pair of arms lifting her off the unconscious form below her.   
Her eyes went wide when she saw the mess that she had made, and she ran and dropped to her knees beside the Erudite boy.   
"Oh, shit," she said, quietly, touching a large bruise forming on the side of the boy's bloody face. "Oh, shit, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!"   
Four, and one of the Candor boys, hurried to cart him off to the infirmary, after announcing that she had won the fight. Lia watched as they left with him, and felt a tear slide down her face.   
She turned around to find Eric standing right behind her.  
"Why do you keep doing that?!" she said, angrily. She was surprised, when he reached out to brush the tear off of her cheek with his thumb, and was shocked at how gentle he was. She swallowed nervously.  
"Will he wake up?" Lia asked, quietly, barely above a whisper. Eric nodded in response, and gestured for her to exit the ring. Marc threw his arm around her, and congratulated her, but she couldn't be consoled. She had beaten the boy to a pulp.   
Eric watched her curiously. The Candor girl kept surprising him. She was unpredictable. She talked back to him, demanded answers to questions that weren't any of her business, wins a fight fair and square, and cries about hurting her opponent.   
He shook his head, in confusion, stealing another glance at the dark-haired girl. She was shrugging off the Amity boy's shoulder, and then she punched him, lightly, giggling.   
_"Is that a lip ring?"_  
Eric shook his head at the thought, scowling.   
_"What the fuck do I care?"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ** Mad World - Gary Jules (Sorry, I just really like his version better than Tears for Fears, sorry if anyone is mad)


	5. Chapter Four - Best of Days Worst of Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I wanted to thank Inlustretlumine and SparksSeer for the reviews! And I want to hand out a MAJOR apology for taking so long to update on this site! I have been so caught up updating on ff.net, that I honestly forgot about Ao3!!!! I know, I'm so evil, and I'm sorry, but I hope all the update bombs I'm about to give will make up for it, and I will be updating on here regularly from now on, I promise! xoxo

"This board is your life," Four gestured to a blank, black screen that hung on a beam above the entrance to the training room. "This is where your rankings will show up. You train separately from the Dauntless-born, but you'll be ranked together. It's easy to fall in rank, and difficult to rise. Only the top twenty initiates will become members of Dauntless; those of you who fail to earn an acceptable spot, will become Factionless."  
Lia's lips parted slightly, and she shared a brief, wary glance with Marc. She didn't know what she would do if any of her new friends were to fail initiation. She couldn't bare to think that she might not pass.   
"There's thirty-one of us!" a brunette from Erudite exclaimed, with wide eyes. Four smirked at her, shifting his weight to one leg.  
"Yes," he agreed, simply. "Six of you will be leaving the compound after stage one, and five of you will be leaving after the final test."  
Four reached inside his coat, and pulled out a small, black remote. He pressed a button on it, and the screen flashed to life. It displayed the ranks, and names, of every one of the initiates; transfer, and Dauntless-born, alike.   
Lia's jaw dropped when she found her name on the board; she ranked sixth. Out of all thirty-one initiates competing for the right to make their lives in Dauntless, she ranked sixth.   
"Do not let fear consume you; if you're truly Dauntless, you won't be worried that you might fail. You chose us, and now, we get to choose you."   
"Aw man," Marc whispered, nudging Lia in the side, and pointing to his name. "I'm twenty-one... I'm never going to make it."   
The dark-haired girl noticed her Amity friend trembling, and poked him in the stomach, giggling when he squeaked.   
"You are going to make it, Marc," she told him, with a serious tone. She noticed the young, blonde leader watching her from where he leaned against a stone column, with his arms folded, off to the side. "Trust me, I won't let you fail. We're in this together, yeah?"   
The ginger-haired boy gave her a small smile, and nodded his head, before they followed Four up to the rooftop shooting range.  
Eric watched them go, before he followed them up the stairs, and outside. The Candor girl surprised him, to no end. She had a big mouth, but she adapted to Dauntless with little to no difficulty. Sure, she wasn't perfect, yet, but she definitely had potential. It didn't escape his attention that Lia was the only transfer to rank in the top ten.  
The sun was exceptionally bright, and the heat was brutal, up on top of the roof. Lia had to squint her eyes, and still had trouble watching the brown-haired leader demonstrate how to shoot a pistol.   
She picked up a gun, and pressed the release to check the clip for bullets, just the way that Four had showed them. She failed to catch the clip, and it fell to the ground, causing her to jump, in surprise.   
Lia felt a small blush creep to her cheeks; she really hoped nobody saw that.   
She bent down to pick the clip back up, and then clicked it back in place, before switching the safety off. She took her stance, and aimed at the target. When she pulled the trigger, the recoil caused her hands to fly up in the air, and she stumbled back. She had expected to fall to the ground, but instead she slammed back into a brick wall.   
A brick wall with hands.   
Lia turned her head, and, lo and behold, there was Eric, placing his hands on her shoulders, to steady her. He wore a wicked grin of amusement, and it caused her blush to deepen, substantially.  
The young leader pointed ahead of her, in the direction of the target, and Lia turned back to see if she had even hit it.   
She had hit the upper, right-hand corner, on the white border; not the actual target. She huffed in frustration, before taking her stance, again. This time, before she could aim down the sights, Eric snatched the weapon from her hands.   
"Hey! Wha-!" Eric placed a finger to her lips, again, to shush her. She raised a quizzical eyebrow, and he smirked. The blonde leader gently pushed her to the side, and he grabbed Lia's hand, placing it on his stomach.   
The dark-haired girl pulled her hand away, quickly, as though she had been burned, and the young leader rolled his eyes.   
He grabbed her hand again, and placed it back over his stomach, and this time, Lia didn't remove it. Eric nodded once, in approval, before taking his stance.   
The blonde breathed in, and out, firing the weapon on the exhale, and hit the target dead center. He lowered the gun, and looked down where Lia still rested her hand against him, smirking at the dark-haired girl.  
Lia quickly pulled her hand to herself, her cheeks burning, and lowered her gaze. The blonde leader held the pistol out to her, and she accepted it without meeting his eyes, and went to take her stance again.   
She gasped when she felt his large, warm hands on her waist, her eyes going wide. She didn't turn to look at him, for fear that she would be eye level with his chin, again.   
Eric felt the corners of his mouth twitch upwards, at her reaction to his touch. He kicked her feet further apart, and pulled her shoulders back a bit, before placing his hands over her smaller ones.   
Lia gulped nervously, when she felt the young leader's body pressed flush against her back, his warm breath drifting over her ear, and she shuddered. She could feel his heart beating, and soon her breath fell in sync with Eric's. The blonde removed his hands from the Candor girl's, and let them rest on her shoulders, waiting.   
Cordelia aimed the weapon, took a deep breath, and pulled the trigger when she exhaled, her feet absorbing the shock of the recoil.   
She had missed the center by less than an inch.   
She felt Eric step away from her, a chill running through her at the lack of his presence, in spite of the searing heat from the summer sun.  
She turned to look at him, in shock, and he nodded, gesturing for her to continue. She felt a small smile tugging at her lips as she fired the weapon again, and again.   
Lia had hit just outside the center twice more, and hit the bullseye three times, after receiving the instruction from the blue-eyed leader. She turned to thank him, with a grin on her face, but Eric had already gone. The Candor girl spotted him kicking Marc's feet apart, before he met her gaze with a smirk.   
The dark-haired girl glanced back to the target, briefly, before reloading the clip, and continuing to fire.

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

 

"Marc! Stop!" Sassy screamed, as the Amity boy tickled her relentlessly. Lia, and the rest of their little lunch group, laughed boisterously at the two. The Candor girl was having an exceptionally good day, especially considering her rank, and her improvement with marksmanship.   
"Say 'I'm a pansycake'!" the ginger-haired boy retorted, grinning as he continued his assault of the blue-haired girl's armpits, and ribs.   
"You're a pansycake!" she screamed, struggling to the get the words out through her hysterical laughter.   
Marc chuckled, darkly, as he continued to torture the out-spoken Dauntless-born. "Not me!" he exclaimed. "You!"   
"I'm a pansycake! I'm a pansycake!" Sassy yelled, and Marc immediately withdrew his weapon of choice; his fingers.   
Several heads in the cafeteria had turned at their little scene, and a lot of people started cheering at Marc's victory. Sassy playfully glared at the ginger, pointing a finger in his face, and poking his nose.   
"This isn't over, Amity!" she announced loudly, causing even more of a joyful chorus of laughter throughout the dining hall.  
Things settled down, quickly, and Lia grinned at the two.   
"Alright, now kiss and make up," she said, smirking when both Marc, and Sassy, blushed a deep scarlet, causing giggles to erupt from Uriah, Todd and Violet.   
"Hey, so I heard about how deadly you are with a weapon," Todd spoke up, throwing an arm over Violet's shoulder. Lia grinned, widely, nodding her head.   
"Yeah, I'm six, on day four, for a reason," she stated, simply. "We've just got to get Marc up from his twenty-one."  
The Amity boy groaned, and placed his head in his hands. "I'm never gonna make it!" he whined, and Lia had to suppress a giggle when Sassy started rubbing his back. Those two totally had a thing for each other, whether they admited it, or not.   
"Hey, so our mystery musician left another CD," Violet piped up, attempting to lighten the mood, once again.   
"Let's hear it, then," Todd said, kissing the purple-haired girl on the cheek. Uriah whistled, and made kissing sounds, eliciting giggles from everyone.   
Violet pulled the CD out of a paper covering, and placed it in the player, turning up the volume. 

****_That there, that's not me_  
I go where I please  
I walk through walls  
I float down the Chasm 

****_I'm not here  
This isn't happening  
I'm not here, I'm not here_

****_In a little while_  
I'll be gone  
The moment's already passed  
Yeah, it's gone 

****_I'm not here  
This isn't happening  
I'm not here, I'm not here**_

"Damn, this guy has got some problems, huh?" Marc asserts, as the rest of the group laugh. Violet suddenly quiets down, and turns the power off to the CD player.   
"Hey, what are you doing?" Lia starts, pouting her lips, her shoulders drooping. "It's depressing, yeah, but I was enjoying that!"   
Violet points in the direction behind the Candor girl.   
Lia sighs, deeply. "Seriously?" She spins around in her seat, and Eric is standing behind her, yet again. "We were kinda doing something, before you so rudely interrupted." Lia crosses her arms over her chest, staring up at the young, blonde leader. Eric's eyes flicker, briefly, to the CD player before he catches Lia's gaze, again.   
"Well?" Lia asks, inclining her head forward. "What do you want?"  
Something that the dark-haired girl couldn't decipher flashed across Eric's icy-blue orbs. He reaches into his back pocket, pulling out his pad and pen.   
Lia watches with interest as he scribbles away over the paper; Eric has never communicated with her in this way. He hands her the small note, and turns to leave.   
Lia watches him go, before scanning what he wrote to her: You did good today, for a Candor smart mouth.

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

 

"Lia!" 

Cordelia rubbed her eyes, and groaned, as she stirred under her warm blankets. She sat up slowly, to find Four standing at the end of her cot. She jumped up, quickly, her bare feet hitting the cold, stone floor.   
"You need to come with me," he said softly, sighing deeply.   
Lia stared at him for a moment, in confusion.  
"Why, what's going on? It's the middle of the night," the dark-haired girl glanced to a large, industrial clock above the bathroom. The brown-haired leader shifted awkwardly where he stood, before beckoning the Candor girl to follow him.   
Lia thought that this was odd, but she followed her instructor, regardless. The dark corridors were colder than usual, with Lia only wearing the shorts and tank top that she had been sleeping in. Four led her up several flights of stairs, and down another long hallway, before stopping outside of a metal door with a frosted glass window.   
He knocked before opening the door, moving to the side for Cordelia to enter. He closed the door behind her, waiting just outside of the office. Four didn't want to be in there when she was given the news.   
The brown-eyed instructor leaned against the cool wall, and waited.  
"Lia," a dark-skinned man stood up from behind a desk, offering her a small smile, as he gestured for her to take a seat. The dark-haired girl hesitantly accepted the chair, crossing her arms over her chest to ward off the chill.   
"Who are you?" she asked, curiously. Lia didn't think that she had seen this man, before. He leaned against the front of his desk.  
"My name is Max. I'm the leader here, at Dauntless," he responded, nodding his head a bit.   
"Why am I in here?" Cordelia pressed, growing nervous. She didn't understand why she was woken from her sleep in the middle of the night, and brought before the leader. She had only met the leader of Candor, Jack Kang, once, when she was caught in a lie as a small child.   
The older man scratched the back of his neck, and sighed, his actions making the dark-haired girl uncomfortable, and she wiggled in her seat.   
"Lia, we've received some unfortunate news," he begin, a sympathetic expression on his face. Lia got an uneasy feeling in her stomach at his tone, and she swallowed, thickly. "There was an accident at Candor..."  
 _"Don't say it,"_ Lia thought, as she began to shake her head.  
"Three residential apartments caught fire..."  
 _"No, please. No."_  
"...and your parents were trapped inside..."  
 _"No, no, no."_  
"I'm very sorry. They didn't make it out."  
Lia felt like her entire world had just fallen apart, in a matter of seconds. Sure, she had left her parents behind to join a new faction, but she didn't leave on bad terms. She had even told her parents, beforehand. She still loved them; they still loved her. And, now, to think that they were gone from the world...  
"It's not true. You're lying!" she accused, standing up and pointing a finger in the leader's face. Tears began to stream down her face, and she trembled with rage.   
"I'm sorry, Lia," the dark-skinned man reached out to place a hand on her shoulder, in an attempt to comfort the girl, but she shrugged him off, violently.   
"Don't touch me!" she screamed, before running for the door, swinging it open. She tried to make a run for it; she didn't know where she was going, she just wanted to go. Four sensed the situation at hand, and grabbed her, before she could do anything stupid.   
"Hey! Hey, calm down," the brown-haired instructor attempted to calm the hysterical girl. She fought against him, thrashing in his arms, attempting to get away.   
"Let me go!" she screamed through her tears, kicking out at the man restraining her. "Let me go!"   
The fight eventually left Cordelia, and she dropped, limply, to the floor, sobbing.   
"Hey, now," Four hushed her, quietly, kneeling with her on the ground. "Let it out." He let the dark-haired girl hold onto his shirt as she cried, hiccuping, and sobbing. 

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

 

"Eric, you haven't talked about anything other than the Candor girl, for like, an hour," Lauryn asserted, peeling the skin off of an orange. He really hadn't. Eric was impressed. Lia was excelling in every area of stage one, and the young leader had no doubt that she would become Dauntless. In some ways, she reminded him of himself, only a few years ago.   
"Let's talk about something else, huh?" the red-head speaks up, again, as she pulls apart the slices of orange, placing them in a bowl. "Like, I don't know..."   
Eric grinned at the green-eyed woman; sometimes, things could get pretty boring, and she was grasping for straws to strike up a conversation about something other than the initiates. He wrote Lauryn a note, pertaining to such, and she smirked at him.  
"Yeah, but we're not talking about iniates," she said, popping an orange slice into her mouth. "We're talking about the Candor girl."   
Eric scowled at his friend, and the red-head laughed, loudly, at his reaction.   
_"What the fuck you tryna say, Lauryn?"_  
Clearly, his expression said it all, because the green-eyed woman threw her hands up in the air, in surrender. "Yep, I get it. Shutting up, now."   
"Let me go!"   
_"Candor?"_  
"Let me go!"   
Eric could hear the girl sobbing in the corridor, and stood with Lauryn to investigate. They exited the red-head's apartment to find Lia, on the ground, sobbing into Four's shoulder, while he was rubbing her back.   
_"The fuck is this? The fuck is he touching her for?!"_  
"What's going on, here?" Lauryn demanded, placing her hands on her hips. Four looked up, and shook his head, slowly. That meant he wanted them to back off. Lauryn wasn't as good at reading Four's unspoken requests as she was Eric's. "Come on, explain what this is."  
The Candor girl pushed away from the brown-haired instructor, her gaze meeting Eric's, momentarily. He could see that her eyes were red, and puffy, and wet trails ran down her face from the tears that she had shed.   
_"Why are you crying?"_  
The dark-haired girl's gaze shifted to Four, briefly, before she sprinted away, down the hall. Eric raised a pierced eyebrow at the brown-haired man.   
"Her parents died. They got trapped in their appartment, and burned alive," he informed them, glancing down the hall where Cordelia disappeared. "Max just told her."   
_"Why did he tell her? He should've just let her live in blissful ignorance!"_  
"I say we split up and look for her, before she does something stupid, or catches the flu," Lauryn suggests, Four and Eric nodding in agreement. 

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

 

Lia ran until she was out of breath, stopping when she reached the Chasm. She slowly walked out across the rail, leaning over and looking down at the river, rushing below her feet.   
The sound was almost deafening, the roar of the water echoing off the walls of the cavern. Cordelia felt the tears start again, silently streaming down her face. _"I shouldn't have left them!"_ she thought, growing angry with herself. _"I could've saved them if I had stayed! This is my fault!"_  
Lia jumped, startled, when she felt the rail sway, and she turned around to see Eric, slowly shuffling across the metal planks. He came up beside her, pulling out that pad and pen of his.   
Lia accepted the note: Please don't jump.  
"Why not?" she responded, making eye contact with the young, silent leader. "It's my fault! I could've saved them if I'd stayed! If not, then I would've died with them..." Lia glanced over the rail again, the water cutting through the Chasm, violently. "Why not jump?"   
_"Now you just sound like an idiot, Candor."_  
Eric scribbled on the pad again, passing her the small, yellow paper: You're Dauntless. You belong here. Not your fault.   
"You think I belong here?" Lia asked, raising an eyebrow, shivering even more, now that the cold water sprayed up in the air from the river below. Eric nodded, with a small smile.   
"You found her!" Four and Lauryn hurried across the bridge, glancing between the leader, and the Candor girl. "Come on, let's get out of here, heights make me nervous."   
Eric smirked at the brown-haired instructor, as they walked back into the corridor.   
"Lia, why don't you stay with me tonight?" Lauryn offered, and Eric threw her a look. "That way you can get some good rest, and I'll make us some hot chocolate and grilled cheese sandwiches, huh?"   
Cordelia turned around, looking to Eric, waiting for permission. She didn't need his permission, though. The blonde offered her a small smile, and nodded.   
"Yeah, okay," Lia agreed, shivering; her teeth chattering. She turned to leave with Lauryn, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. The dark-haired girl turned back around, to be met with Eric holding out his jacket to her, leaving him in only a thin, black t-shirt. The Candor girl frowned, and shook her head, but Eric was persistent.   
_"Stubborn Candor."_  
The young leader threw it around her shoulders, ignoring her protest, pleased when the shivering stopped. His jacket was still warm, and it did make Lia feel a bit better. She smiled, and mouthed a 'thank you', before following Lauryn back to the red-head's apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **How to Disappear Completely - Radiohead (I changed "Liffey" to "Chasm" though, to Divergentize it, lol.)


	6. Chapter Five - Skylines and Steeples

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so if you didn't know, I absolutely love, love, LOVE reviews:) I'd love to hear what you think, and where you think I might be going with this:) I promise to respond! And I give shoutouts, too, jus' sayin' :) Also, on a side note, even though I've already written like 12 chapters (including the prologue), this was actually one of my favorites to write:)

**_Three days later..._ **

Lia stared at a crack in the floor, with a blank expression on her face; she felt nothing but apathetic about anything, anymore. The loss of her parents had affected her, immensely; she had robotically participated in the daily training exercises for the three days immediately following the grim news.   
She had numbly moved through the motions in marksmanship, rope climbing, and fighting. The dark-haired girl had lost her second fight to another girl who transferred from Candor. The depression had set in, and it didn't look to the other initiates, or their instructors, like it would be leaving anytime soon.   
Cordelia wouldn't speak to Marc, or even her Dauntless-born friends, and she had felt like she was slowly losing herself.   
"Lia, come on," Marc pleaded with the amber-eyed girl, shaking her shoulders gently. "You're scaring me. You're scaring all of us. Snap out of it."  
The dark-haired girl didn't raise her eyes to the Amity boy, if anything, she stared at the floor even more intensely.   
The initiates were in the training room, pounding relentlessly on the heavy punching bags that were lined up against the far fall. The only sounds in the room were the dull smack of flesh against canvas, and low grunts of exertion, as the instructors looked on.   
Cordelia stood off to the side, unable to will herself to participate in the exercise, while Marc begged her, unsucessfully, to join in. The ginger-haired boy gave up, with a sigh, and proceeded with his morning training.   
The blonde leader watched the scene, with anger; Lia was the single, most promising transfer, and he was not about to sit idly by while she fell to the bottom. He would not see the Candor girl become Factionless over something so trivial in the long haul of life.   
Eric stalked over to the dark-haired girl, crossing his arms over his chest, and he pursed his lips in dissapointment as he looked down on her. She did not meet his gaze, she did not glare at him with that spark of fire in her eyes, and she did not make some snide comment about his invasion of personal space.   
Cordelia barely noticed when the tall, silent blonde approached her. She simply didn't care enough to be aware of her surroundings. She felt her breath leave her momentarily, and she stumbled back, when Eric shoved her backwards. Her eyes widened a bit, and she finally met the young leader's annoyed gaze, in shock. She had no sharp retort; she simply stood there, gazing back at him.  
The blonde shoved her again, harder this time, and Cordelia lost her footing, falling to the floor. At this point, everyone else in the training room had stopped what they were doing to watch the altercation.   
Eric glared down at the dark-haired girl, his icy-blue orbs piercing into her own amber eyes. Something sparked within the Candor girl, when she hit the ground, and she jumped up quickly, hands clenched, and shaking, by her sides. She stood chest to chest with the daunting leader, her amber eyes revealing her inner rage.   
The training room had gone eerily quiet, as the two stared each other down.   
The blonde shoved Lia, yet again, and the dark-haired girl had barely stumbled back, before she attacked the silent leader. The seething Candor transfer threw a powerful right hook to the left side of Eric's face, before kicking out with her left leg, the blow landing to the young leader's stomach. The blue-eyed man gasped, clutching the sore area as he coughed.   
The dark-haired girl wasn't finished yet, though, and she quickly dived under him, rolling onto her back. She kicked out at the back of the blonde instructor's legs, causing him to drop to the floor, on his knees. Cordelia took advantage of his current, vulnerable position, and swiftly jumped onto Eric's back, knocking him forward to lay sprawled on his stomach on the cold, cement ground.   
Eric had only just turned his head to the side in time to avoid a broken nose, his head bouncing off the concrete floor, causing his vision to blur slightly.   
The Candor girl had him trapped with her legs, immobilizing his left arm with her knee, while she yanked his right arm up, twisting the limb and pulling it backwards, at an unnatural angle, in an arm bar. She was mere miliseconds away from breaking the blonde leader's arm, when she caught the grin that graced his features.   
She released her opponent from the submissive position that she had restrained him in, and stood, slowly. Eric rolled over onto his back, before pulling himself to his feet, and continued to grin down at the dark-haired girl.   
"You..." Lia shook her head, her eyes flitting closed, briefly, as she tried to wrap her mind around what had just happened. "You didn't fight back... You wanted me to attack you?"   
Eric's grin widened, and he nodded, once, in agreement with her statement. This was exactly how he had wanted the top-ranked transfer to react.   
Lia wore a confused expression, as her eyes searched his icy-blues for an explanation. She didn't understand why he had done this; why he had allowed her to do this.   
"Why?" she inquired, a small frown knitting her sharp eyebrows together, as she struggled to make sense of what was going on.   
The young leader pulled out his pad and pen, scribbling quickly, before handing Lia the small, yellow slip of paper: Dauntless never give up. You are Dauntless. Don't give up.   
Cordelia swallowed thickly as she read the words that he had written, in his small, neat script. She looked back up into Eric's eyes, his expression difficult to read.   
"Thank you," she whispered, as she folded up the small piece of paper, and tucked it away in her pocket. The blonde offered no further acknowledgement to her words, but simply gestured to the punching bags, where the rest of the initiates had already resumed practicing their punches and kicks. 

**_Six days later - Two weeks into stage one of training..._ **

"Initiates! Tonight we will be dividing up the transfers, and the Dauntless-born, evenly. This game will not affect your rank, but don't think for a second that it isn't important. This will prove your abilities to work together as a team, your marksmanship, your stealth."   
Four knelt down to the metal, grated floor of the car that the initiates occupied on the locomotive, zipping open one, of two large, black duffel bags. The brown-haired instructor pulled out three red guns, tossing one each to Eric and Lauryn, and holding his own up in the air, for all of the initiates to see.   
"This will be your weapon of choice for the war games."   
Lia turned her head to the right when she heard a snort eminate from the brunette, Candor girl that had beat her in the second fight.   
"You call that a gun?" she muttered to her friends; two boys from Erudite, Jared and Liam, a girl from Amity, Mona, and a boy from Candor, William.   
Eric heard the sarcastic statement, and wasted no time in aiming his weapon, and firing at the arrogant transfer. The Candor girl, Sarah, screamed out in pain, and slid down the wall to the floor.   
Cordelia noticed the smirk that played on the blonde leader's lips, and she had to force her own smug smile away.   
Four approached Sarah, bending down, and plucking the silver dart from the skin at her collarbone. "Neuro-stim dart," he explained, raising his voice, while he held the small, four-pronged cartridge up for all to see. "It simulates the pain of a real gun-shot wound, but only lasts a few minutes. That being said, don't let an opponent get your weapon. In high doses, the serum can cause an adverse reaction, poisoning your blood, and is potentially lethal. Any more questions?"   
The brown-haired instructor nodded in satisfaction at the lack of words, and threw the dart to the floor. "Two teams; Lauryn and I are captains. You first," Four directed at the red-head, and she stepped forward, scratching her chin as she looked over the transfers, first.   
"Lia," she finally said, with a smile, and a wink to the dark-haired girl. The Candor transfer looked to the green-eyed woman with a grin on her face, while Four made a nervous sound.  
"Ouch, guess I shoulda picked first, huh? Okay, um..."

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

 

"Lights off!" Lauryn called out to the blue team, switching her own, glowing pocket lamp off. Lia did as ordered, before taking in her surroundings. They had gathered in a large park on the north east side of the city, the sharp, jagged skyline to the east a blue sillhouet in the light of the mostly-full moon.   
"Wow," the dark-haired girl breathed, in wonder of the spectacular backdrop to their soon-to-be violent game. Eric smiled, slightly, at the expression on the Candor girl's face, remembering the time he had first witnessed the amazing view.   
"I know, right?" Violet nudged Lia in the side, both of them giggling, as Lauryn spoke up, once again.   
"I'm your captain, but, mostly I'm just hear to supervise. You will be making the decisions in this game. Four likes to play defense, so what's the plan?"   
An incomprehensible chatter started among the initiates, everyone arguing the soundness of their ideas.   
"Split into three groups. Seven of us form into two groups, and flank them from both sides, while the other three head straight for the flag."  
"No, no! We sneak in, and then run out, guns blazing, and take them by surprise."  
"Okay, we split into two groups..."  
Lia stopped paying attention, deciding to wait it out, and play whatever part they wanted her to play.   
Eric noticed her silence, and pointed the dark-haired girl out to Lauryn, who immediately called for the other initiates to be quiet. The blonde leader strode over to the Candor girl, noticing the reflection of the moon in her amber orbs, as she held his gaze. He raised a pierced eyebrow at her, in expectation.   
"Me?" she said, her eyes widening, as she looked passed the young leader's shoulder to the other initiates. The blonde nodded, waiting for her response. Lia looked down for a moment, before looking back to the spooky, yet beautiful, skyline.   
"Um..." the dark-haired girl worried her lip ring; she had sinced changed out the ball, in favor of a small, silver ring. The blue-eyed leader's gaze drifted briefly to her lips, before studying her eyes, once again. "If Four plays on defense, why don't we steal the position from him? We could head into the Old City, and find somewhere with a high vantage point to wait it out."   
The blonde leader nods, in approval, giving the Candor transfer a small smirk.   
"Alright, head out!" Lauryn calls to the other initiates. "Lia, you're leading the way!" 

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

 

The darkness began to close in, the farther they trekked into the cover of the tall buildings. The only sounds to be heard, were those of boots crunching gravel, and cicadas chirping in the overgrown trees that lined either side of the road. Lia noticed the young leader walking beside her, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw him tapping his fingers against the side of his leg, nervously.   
They rounded a bend in the road, and Lia chanced a glance at the blonde's icy-blue eyes. She was slightly surprised when she saw his gaze darting side to side, and he swallowed multiple times.   
It dawned on her, then, that the Dauntless leader was afraid of the dark. The Candor girl giggled, and quickly clamped a hand over her mouth, when Eric turned his head to look at her, with an unamused expression.   
_"Something funny to you, Smart Mouth?"_  
"Um... There," Cordelia stopped in her tracks, pointing up at an old church with a large bell-tower on the side. "There should be plenty of places to hole up in there, and then two of us can wait in the tower with the flag."   
The dark-haired girl led the troop of initiates across the road, and onto the sidewalk, briefly inspecting an old, crumbling sign: St. Michael's Church  
They entered through a set of double doors, and Lia gasped when she took in her surroundings, once inside. The ceiling was high, at least thirty feet, and large, white marble columns went all the way from the floor, to the ceiling. There were rows, upon rows, of long, wooden benches, rotting away over the years, and the moonlight shining through the cracked, or broken, stained-glass windows threw eery shadows throughout the room.   
Lia lifted her eyes, catching sight of the intricate, and complex, designs that decorated the high ceiling.   
"Whoa," she breathed, in amazement. She really never learned very much about life before the war, but, seeing this made her hunger for it.   
"Okay," the dark-haired girl shook her head a bit, in an attempt to focus on the task at hand. "So, I want five of you on each side of the aisle; hide on the floor, between the benches, and spread out. I don't want you too close together. I want two of you here in the back. One on each side of the door, and lean back against the wall. I need one person to climb up on top of that... thing," Lia pointed to the large alter at the far end of the room, slightly mesmerized by the decor. "And when Four's group enters, let them get into the middle of the room before you open fire; you'll have them all surrounded. I want two more of you to come with me, and you can guard the bottom of the tower. And lastly, I need one person to come with me to the top of the tower."   
Violet and Todd quickly volunteered to guard the back, by the door, and Lauryn offered to climb the alter. Sassy and Uriah staked their claim to guard the bottom of the tower, and everyone else fanned out through the pews, laying on their bellies, waiting for the attack.   
That only left one person available to climb the tower with her.  
Eric.  
The blonde smirked at the Candor girl, when the realization dawned on her face.  
 _"Well, this should be interesting."_

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

 

Cordelia and Eric left the two Dauntless-born at the bottom of the stairs, before ascending up into the tower. It was a long climb, up many steps, before they finally reached level ground. Lia pushed open the door, stepping out into the slightly chilly, night air. If the view before was spectacular, then this was enchanting. She could see for miles, out over the empty city, and the stars twinkled in the sky above, along with the dazzling light of the moon.   
She reluctantly pulled her gaze away from the scenery, snatching the blue, glowing flag from out of her jacket. Cordelia glanced around, searching for somewhere to tie the flag off, but nowhere immediately struck her.   
Then, she remembered seeing the cross-shaped decoration on top of the bell tower. Even if the green team did manage to infiltrate this far up, they would have a very difficult time retrieving it from there.   
"Help me with this," Lia stated simply, walking to the window, and throwing her leg over the side.   
Eric's eyes went wide when he saw what she was doing, and quickly tried to deter her from going through with it. He rushed over and grabbed her arm, catching her questioning gaze, and shook his head 'no'.   
_"Are you fucking crazy?! What the hell are you doing?!"_  
"What is your problem? I'm climbing the rest of the way up. I'm going to tie it around that statue at the top. They won't make it that far."   
_"That's another fifteen feet, at least!"_  
The young leader's icy-blue eyes went wide at her words, and he shook his head, again. Lia scoffed, incredulously, at the blonde's reaction. She had a good plan.   
"I can do it by myself then, if you're too scared," the dark-haired girl informed him, as she stood on the ledge, and hoisted herself up, and out of site.   
Eric's eyes went dark, and his nostrils flared in anger.   
_"I'm not fucking scared!"_  
The blonde leader hurried to follow the amber-eyed girl, refusing to look down at the ground below. He saw her, about seven feet above him, climbing the sharp steeple. He cursed inwardly, before pulling himself to the roof, and ascending the spire.   
Lia heard heavy breathing, and looked down, to see Eric climbing up, below her. She grinned when she saw the sweat beading on his forehead. She had let her attention waver, and she gasped when her foot slid against the slick, overlapping shingles.   
Cordelia slid down, and she thought that she was about to take that trip, when an arm around her waist halted her rapid descent. The dark-haired girl fought to get her breathing under control, and looked up into the young leader's worried eyes.   
He inclined his head to the side, asking if she wanted to go back, and forget this lunatic mission.   
"I'm fine," Lia answered, shortly, shrugging out of his hold, before continuing to climb the tower. She reached the top, and grinned in satisfaction, as she tied the glowing, blue flag around the cross.   
"See," she said, smirking at the blonde, who glared up at her. "All's well that ends well."   
They climbed back down, and entered the tower once more, through the window. The dark-haired girl peering over the side, before settling down on the floor, and aiming her gun at the door. Eric was still breathing heavily, and his nervousness was apparent, though he tried to conceal it. He sat down next to the Candor transfer, and pulled his knees up, angling his head down as he tried to regulate his breathing back to normal.   
Lia noticed this, and had to fight back the smirk that threatened to take over her face. "You're scared of heights."   
The blonde shook his head, without looking up, and took a few, even, deep breaths before pulling out his pad and pen.   
He handed her the small paper, and Lia had to squint to be able to read it in the darkness: Falling.  
"Falling?" Cordelia looked up at the young leader, confused. "Seriously?"   
Eric glared, dangerously, at the dark-haired girl, and she rose her hands in surrender. "Okaaaaay," she said, drawing out the middle vowel. The blonde rolled his eyes at the sarcasm in the Candor transfer's voice.   
Eric fixed his gaze on the door, and Lia shifted her eyes to look at him in the light of the moon. The dark-haired girl noticed a small, sideways, Y-shaped scar on the left side of his head. She wondered how she hadn't noticed it, before. Now that she had discovered it, it was very noticeable, even in the darkness.   
"How did you get that?" the Candor girl inquired, gesturing to the scar when he turned to look at her. Eric set his mouth in a thin line, and looked away, ignoring her question.  
Cordelia was about to inquire, further, but stood to her feet instead, quickly, as the sound of gun fire sounded below them.   
The green team was here.  
The fire fight didn't last long, and no one from Four's team ever made it past the sanctuary in the lower level of the church. Violet had grabbed the green flag out of Marc's bag after she had shot him down, and was waving it victoriously in the air, when Lia and Eric descended the tower.   
"We won!" she screamed, attacking the dark-haired girl with a violent hug, and a kiss to the cheek. Lia laughed, and Eric smirked at their celebration. Not that he had a problem with winning. He was a winner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> St. Michaels Church, is a real place; I've been there a few times just to look at how beautiful everything is inside! There's an antique pipe organ, and it is HUGE!!!!!! It really is beautiful:) There's probably some pictures I would google it, lol :) And, I've placed the church in it's RL location, and also, the park that they start off in, is actually Lincoln Park, lol :) Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did! Love to hear from my readers:) xoxo


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